True to myselfThe story behind the poem

This poem has echoes of Jenny Joseph's 'Warning' although in my case it isn't an intention for the future but another side of the present. The unwritten poem here is about when I'm NOT true to myself, which is probably the majority of the time like I dare say it is for most people.

I wrote the poem sitting in front of a log fire in the huge fireplace of our home in Italy, feeling rather complacent that I'd persuaded my husband, against all his prejudices from being the 'keeper of the fire' as a child, to consent to this messy, aesthetic comfort. I was conscious that the spectacle before me had been watched since the time when man first took control of fire, and it made me feel very connected.